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Council talks seafood, trails

Kenai resident Paul Shadura said he, and others in the community, want the Kenai Peninsula Borough to conduct an economic analysis of the seafood industry, at Wednesday’s Kenai City Council meeting.

The analysis would place a value on the seafood industries on the Peninsula.

“What we’re trying to do is have something that’s not controversial in nature,” he said, “that is exactly a document that we can all look at on an even keel.”

Shadura, a Kenai Peninsula Fisherman’s Association director, said other Alaska communities have compiled comprehensive economic statements for their seafood industries.

He asked the council for assistance developing a resolution to bring to the Borough.

The council thanked him for his comments.

Council member Bob Molloy asked the council to conduct a survey for a segment of the Shqui Tsatnu Creek Trail.

Segment two of the trail is located west of the airport, between Fourth and Fifth avenue. The trail is part of the city’s trails plan.

Historically, Molloy said residents have used the trail for daily commutes, but debris piles have accumulated, forcing commuters to tramp trails on private properties. As a result, the original location of the trail is unclear.

A portion of the segment drops also into a gully.

Molloy said he is not certain if the debris piles are on city or private property. To remove them, and potentially build new segments, the city will need to determine the property lines.

“So the survey that I’m looking for would support the pursuit of information gathering,” Molloy said.

City Manager Rick Koch said the city apportioned $100,000 last year for its trail projects, and about $50,000 is left.

“It shouldn’t take too much for a surveyor to be able to (complete the survey),” he said. “It will give us some valuable information as to where the trail might have been and maybe some topographical information as to where the edge of that property drops off into the gully.”

Koch said he will send a surveyor to the trail segment before a heavy snow fall blankets the forest.

Currently, he said the project is a low priority, but the survey results could bump it up.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution to change the shared fisheries business tax program for fiscal year 2013. The new method, City Finance Director Terry Eubank said, is a simpler way manage the fisheries business taxes.

Also, the council appointed Ann Sherry Bodin to the Library Commission.